The Birthday Party (46 page)

‘Mum – Mum, it’s OK.’ Instinct made him step over the threshold. Instinct made him take her in his arms. ‘Mum – it’s me. I
thought – I’d come to say hello. See how you are. You don’t have to panic. It’s OK.’

‘Oh my God, I’ve dreamed about this. I never thought it would really happen. I thought you were dead. I thought you’d probably
turned into some druggy.’ She took in big shuddering gasps. ‘I’ve never forgiven myself …’

‘Mum, it’s cool. I’m OK. Very OK.’ He wasn’t going to tell her he was a star. Married to a celeb. She obviously had no clue,
hadn’t seen the photos of him and Tyger in the paper. She wouldn’t have recognised him even if she had. He looked a million
miles from the insignificant, mousy kid who’d left home when he was fifteen.

Bernie appeared in the door of the lounge.

‘What you after? Money?’ he demanded belligerently.

‘Er, no,’ said Louis. ‘I just wanted to bury the hatchet after all this time.’

‘Think you can just waltz in here like nothing’s happened, do you?’ Bernie was going to make this as difficult as he could.
‘She’s never been the same since the day you walked out, your mum. You know that?’

Louis shut his eyes for a moment. He was going to have to keep calm and focus. Not get side-tracked by all the guilt and emotion.
Bernie would do his best to make it all his fault.

‘Bernie, leave it.’ Melinda’s tone was sharp. ‘I’ve got my boy back. Don’t you drive him away again.’

‘Again?’ Bernie barked disdainfully. ‘I gave the pair of you the shirt off my bloody back, and what thanks did I ever get?’

‘Come in,’ said Melinda to Louis. ‘Come in and let’s have a drink. Ignore him.’

Louis edged his way reluctantly into the lounge. It had been done out since he was here. A huge suite of studded burgundy
leather was grouped around a massive telly. Melinda went to turn the sound down on the remote, but Bernie stopped her.

‘No. I want to see if my numbers come up.’

Your number’s come up all right, thought Louis, and reminded himself what he was here for.

‘Sit down.’ His mum was nervous.

‘Mind if I use the toilet first?’

‘Course. It’s still in the same place.’ She laughed.

Louis went out into the hall and down the corridor. The toilet was to the right. The kitchen, where he hoped the keys were
hanging, was to the left.

He could hear the sound of the lottery balls being unleashed. He reckoned he had about a minute while Bernie’s attention was
taken up. He walked into the kitchen, and realised with a shock that this had been done out too. Obviously the puppy farming
was going well. But this also meant the keys weren’t in the place he expected them to be. He looked around desperately.

A round of applause greeted the announcement of the first number.

He worked his way round the kitchen, lifting bits of paper, tea towels. Nowhere. Maybe they were in the office. Did he have
time to sneak out and go further down the corridor?

More numbers. More applause. He tried to think. And then he saw them, glinting in the fruit bowl, alongside a packet of cigarettes
and a lighter. He picked them up without a second thought and bolted across to the downstairs toilet, shutting the door.

He went over to the window, praying Tyger was all right. He levered it open, reached up and dropped the keys out, at the same
time flushing the toilet to cover up any noise.

Then he ran the tap, washed his sweating hands, and made his way back to the lounge.

‘Any luck?’

Bernie gave a humph of dissatisfaction.

‘Mug’s game.’

Tyger didn’t know whether to be relieved or frightened when the keys finally dropped out of the window. It had seemed as if
she had been waiting for ever. She picked them up and started to make her way over to the compound. She could hear the telly
from inside the house. It was still on, which was good, because it would cover any noise, but they obviously weren’t making
much conversation.

She reached the chain-link fence and found the padlock. She felt the size of the lock with her fingers, then tried to feel
for the key most likely to fit it. She tried four. No luck. Her heart started to pound. She had to find cover – this was the
place where she was the most exposed.

The fifth key fitted. The lock unsnapped. She slipped through and pushed the gate closed. She ran over to the barn and repeated
the procedure with the second padlock. She could hear barking inside. Sssh, she thought. Be quiet!

She slid the heavy barn door open and stepped inside, her heart heavy with dread. Only when the door was shut behind her did
she turn on the torch she had brought with her. She swung the beam around.

It was worse than she could possibly have imagined – worse than anything Louis had described. Bernie had obviously increased
the number of puppies he was farming, and reduced what he was spending on them. It was horrific. The beam lit up the terrified
eyes of emaciated creatures crammed cheek by jowl into cages. The stench of urine and faeces was overpowering. She gagged
as she opened up the first cage. The puppies yelped. She put in her hands, feeling their matted fur. Tears poured down her
face.

‘It’s OK,’ she sobbed. ‘We’re going to get you out.’

The pathetic beings cowered from her touch. She could see open sores on the mothers’ flanks. Flies buzzed everywhere, and
she batted them away.

Hurry up, Louis
, she begged silently. As soon as he was here they would call the others. Then they could start the mammoth task. It was going
to take hours, she estimated. She thought about carrying as many cages as she could out to the Jeep, just
to get ahead, but when she tried to lift one it was impossible. She wasn’t strong enough.

She placated herself by lifting a puppy out and cuddling it, stroking it reassuringly and talking in a calm, quiet voice.
She couldn’t even tell what breed it was, but she hugged the tiny body to her until it stopped trembling.

Louis wanted to tell his mother everything – about his life, his success, about his wonderful new wife. And about the fact
that he was truly properly happy for the first time in his life. But not in front of Bernie. He didn’t want to reveal any
of it in front of that piece of scum. So he made up some random stuff. Said he was working in a record shop.

‘Collectors’ items. Rare 45s. Mostly jazz.’

‘Stuff that no one wants, you mean,’ scoffed Bernie. He was sitting in what was obviously his chair, his gut bigger than ever,
a bottle of beer in his right hand. He hadn’t offered Louis one. He’d always had the manners of a pig. ‘What are you back
here for, anyway?’

‘I just … wanted to see how Mum was.’

Whatever he said, he didn’t want to raise Bernie’s suspicions. But Bernie had a naturally suspicious nature.

‘You want money.’

Nothing wrong in letting Bernie think that. It would certainly put him off the scent for a while.

‘Well …’ said Louis slowly.

‘We can give you money, love,’ said Melinda, darting a sharp, nervous glance in Bernie’s direction. ‘Can’t we?’

‘Why would we want to?’ Bernie lifted the bottle to his blubbery lips.

‘He’s my son.’

‘I thought you were glad to see the back of him when he left. I thought you said he’d been a drain on you all your life.’

Melinda went pale.

Louis felt sick. Had she really said that?

‘I never said that,’ she told Louis.

Bernie gave a bark of laughter.

‘Yes, you bloody did.’

‘Fine,’ said Louis. ‘I’ll go, shall I?’

Shit. This wasn’t turning out how it should be. But he didn’t want to stay and listen to this bile much longer.

His mother grabbed his arms.

‘I’ve been waiting for this moment since the day you left. And I wasn’t surprised you did. Good luck to you, I thought. You
were braver than I was.’

‘Yeah, well – you know where your bread’s buttered don’t you, love?’ Bernie chuckled.

‘I thought maybe you’d do well for yourself. Find a nice girl …’

He wanted to tell her. He wanted to tell her—

‘He’s done well for himself all right. So well he’s had to come crawling back to us for cash.’

Bernie seemed to find this highly amusing. Louis wanted to smash his face in. He couldn’t wait for the moment when the fat
bastard found out the truth. He had to try to stay calm. His eyes flickered over to the clock on the wall. A big china clock
covered in butterflies. He wanted to cry all of a sudden. His mum had always loved butterflies. He remembered that now.

‘What’s the matter? Scared you’re going to miss your last bus home?’ Bernie couldn’t resist another jibe. ‘How d’you get here,
anyway? You parked outside?’ He started to raise his fat arse out of the chair.

‘Hitched,’ mumbled Louis. Nearly half an hour, he’d been in here. He needed to get out and get to Tyger. But now he was here
he didn’t want to leave his mum. He couldn’t bear the memories, or the thought that she had been left here all that time.
He should never have run out on her. She had only gone with Bernie to give him a better life, and he’d sentenced her to a
life of misery.

He was sweating, with the guilt and tension. He felt incredibly nauseous. The sickly scent of Bernie’s cheap aftershave was
turning his stomach.

‘Look, Mum, I need to go. I’ll come back and see you soon, I promise.’

‘Give me your address. Or your number.’

She was begging him. He could see she was afraid that he would slip out of her grasp again. She didn’t want to let him go.

She turned to Bernie.

‘Bernie, give him some cash.’

‘Bugger off.’

‘Give him some bloody cash!’

Louis was quietly admiring of her bravery. He felt touched. She was standing up to Bernie on his behalf. Never mind that he
had no need for it.

Bernie got up, grumbling.

‘It’s in the bedroom. I’ll go and get it.’

When the odious presence had left the room, along with the smell, mother and son turned to look at each other. Melinda put
a hand up and touched his face.

‘I thought about you every hour of every day. What you were doing.’

Tears stung Louis’ eyes.

‘I thought about you too, Mum,’ he told her. ‘Has he been a bastard to you?’

She shrugged. ‘Better the devil you know.’

‘I’ve got a girl,’ he said. ‘A beautiful girl.’

‘Course you have,’ she replied proudly.

Tyger was starting to worry. The others were going to think the plan had been abandoned. Maybe they’d go home. She wondered
if she should start emptying the puppies out of the cages. There were some cardboard boxes in the corner. She put the puppy
she’d been holding back in the cage.

‘I won’t be long,’ she promised.

She turned to find a man standing in the doorway. A fat bloke with a moustache and a spade in his hands.

‘Who the hell are you?’ he growled.

She froze, felt her legs turn to jelly. She had to run for it, but he was blocking the only way out. He stepped towards her,
menacingly.

There was nothing for it but to scream.

‘Louis!’ she screeched at the top of her lungs. ‘Louis!’

With a jolt, Louis realised that Bernie had been rather a long time, considering he’d just gone to fetch a tenner from his
wallet. He’d been so engrossed with the conversation with his mother, he’d lost concentration, almost forgotten why they were
here at all.

‘Where’s Bernie gone?’

‘I dunno. He usually goes to check on the dogs about this time—’

Louis bolted out of the lounge.

‘Dave?’ His mother followed after him. He went into the kitchen. His heart leapt into his mouth when he saw the back door
wide open.

‘Shit.’

He ran as fast as he could through the darkness. He could see the gate in the fence wide open. And the barn door open too.
He raced inside.

Tyger was lying on the ground. Bernie was standing over her. He looked defiantly at Louis.

‘She won’t have a fucking leg to stand on. She’s an intruder. I had every right to hit her.’

Louis dropped to his knees beside Tyger, appalled. How could this have gone so wrong? Of course Bernie had belted her. That’s
the type of bloke he was.

‘Tyger?’ She was out cold. As pale as candlewax. And so still. Desperately he felt for a pulse.

‘I might have known you’d try something like this. Fucking heroics.’

‘Shut up and get an ambulance.’

‘Get her inside. We’ll stick some peas on her head.’

‘Don’t touch her. Don’t move her. She needs an ambulance.’

Louis was desperately trying to stay calm, to keep a lid on his panic. He smoothed back Tyger’s hair and to his horror felt
sticky blood.

‘What was your game anyway? A Hundred and One bloody Dalmatians?’

Bernie was sneering. Louis got his phone out. To his shock, Bernie kicked it out of his hands.

‘I don’t want the emergency services sniffing about. Shove her in the car and I’ll drive her to A and E.’

‘No way – you’re not having anything to do with her.’

Louis went to grab his phone and Bernie stepped on his hand. Searing pain drove through his knuckles.

‘It’s OK,’ came a voice from the doorway. ‘I’m calling the police.’

Melinda was standing there as cool as a cucumber.

‘Mum – you can’t. Just get an ambulance. Hurry. If you call the police they’ll arrest you as well.’

‘I don’t care,’ she said calmly. ‘I should have done it years ago. And I deserve whatever I get.’

‘You call the cops and it’ll be the last thing you do,’ warned Bernie.

‘Ambulance. And police.’ Melinda spoke calmly into the phone.

‘It’s your name all over the paperwork,’ said Bernie spitefully. ‘I’m not an idiot.’

Louis looked down at Tyger. Rusty-red blood was seeping onto the concrete. He felt sheer terror, the biggest emotion he had
ever felt in his life.

‘I’m off,’ said Bernie, and headed for the door.

‘No, you’re not,’ said Melinda, and chucked a heavy set of car keys over to Louis. ‘And you’re such a fat bastard, you won’t
even make it to the end of the drive before they get here.’